


Keep Your Friends Closer

by unknown_knowns



Series: The One Good Thing in Seattle (Side stories) [1]
Category: Life Is Strange (Video Game)
Genre: College, Drama, F/F, LGBTQ Themes, Nerds Being Nerdy, alternative universe, but not a lot since it's the spice of life but you don't want too much spice, max and vic are really gay for each other and it's cute af, mostly fluffy, revolving POV, the OC is just for plot convenience and is minor
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-09-19
Updated: 2016-09-19
Packaged: 2018-08-15 09:20:51
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,313
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8050825
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/unknown_knowns/pseuds/unknown_knowns
Summary: Max and Victoria are happy, together.Max’s friends are less sure about the arrangement.





	Keep Your Friends Closer

**Author's Note:**

> Hello, Friends.
> 
> This vignette is concurrent with ["Diametrically Opposed"](http://archiveofourown.org/works/8027380/chapters/18380305). I don't know why you'd read this without reading that, but in case you're weird like that, Max and Victoria are girlfriends, and were old friends before that. 
> 
> This is mostly fluffy. I really like healthy!Vixine. I may or may not have a problem. ~~Send help.~~
> 
> This was cut from DO since I felt like it slowed down pacing too much. There's actually a few of these. If y'all like it I might clean up and post more.
> 
> As always, comments mean a lot to me, and I'll try to reply to them all.

Thursday.

Max exited her music class with Warren and Kate in tow.

“The violin is really like a guitar, actually.”

“Uh-huh.”

Kate was amused. She’d often humor Max’s theories about music.

“There’s strings, you know? I should start playing with a pick.”

Even if they were a little silly sometimes.

Kate chuckled quietly.

“I think your brave playing style would take the world by storm, Max.”

Max’s eyebrows raised.

“Wait what? I was --- oh.”

Warren grinned.

“I think she was kidding, Max.”

Max shoved him with an elbow.

“I think I know that, Warren.”

He shrugged.

“Hey! Didn’t sound like it five seconds ago.”

Max groaned. They both enjoyed a quiet laugh.

They all turned the next corner.

“Max.”

Victoria’s voice had Max stopping in her tracks. It tended to have that effect on her.

Lately, Victoria had been finding Max after class a lot.

Max didn’t know where she had the time to do it.

She wasn’t going to complain.

Her two friends continued on for a few seconds without realizing she had stopped.

They looked back.

Kate frowned.

Warren kept a stupid grin on his face.

“’Tori.”

Max hurriedly made her way over to Victoria.

They clasped their hands together, and Max rested her head on Victoria’s shoulders and collarbones.

Sometimes their height difference was annoying, but sometimes Max rather liked being able to fit herself into Victoria like this.

It had been over a week since they reconnected, and a few days since Victoria had earned Chloe’s trust.

Max started calling Victoria her girlfriend soon after that.

Victoria reciprocated.

And now, they were comfortable enough to be open with their affections in public.

For the most part, anyway.

Victoria eventually remembered herself and looked up from the happy bundle of lazy brown hair nestled against her.

Warren’s phone was out, recording.

Kate hugged her books to herself, quietly.

When Kate realized Victoria was looking, she immediately looked to Warren, and pushed his hand down so as to stop him from recording further.

He awkwardly looked away and rubbed at the back of his head.

Victoria’s hackles were raised. She could feel her face shifting back into quiet disgust.

“Hey, what do you think you’re --- “

“’Tori.”

Max’s quiet mumbling into her neck had Victoria shivering for a moment, unbalanced.

Victoria looked down and quieted her voice to just talk to Max.

“They’re ---“

“My friends.”

Max responded almost immediately. Her voice was flat.

Victoria bit her bottom lip.

She looked back up.

Warren still didn’t want to look Victoria in the eye, and was counting spots on the floor tiles with his hands in his pockets.

Kate was still frowning. She was looking at Max, not Victoria.

Victoria sighed deeply.

“Your friends are weird.”

“So are you.”

Max’s responses came easily, playfully.

“I’m not ---“

“I’ve seen the dolls in your room, Victoriiaaa ---“

“They’re not _dolls_ they’re ---“

“ _Figurines_ , I know, but they’re also _adorable_ and endearing but nerdy as all get out.”

Victoria groaned severely, closed her eyes, and looked upwards.

This was actually a hopelessly stupid battle to fight against Max. Even before she was her girlfriend, Max was fully aware of the extent of Victoria’s non-traditional interests.

Max also knew the very particular ways to annoy Victoria when she talked about them. Victoria was pretty sure Max did it intentionally to get a rise out of her.

But Victoria liked it when Max got a bit more energetic and giggly around her. Like she was actually enjoying herself, and enjoying Victoria’s presence. She always seemed more confident with Victoria on her arm.

Maybe she was just imagining things.

She decided to quit while she was ahead.

Max gently pulled herself away from Victoria’s chest and came over to her side.

She rested her head on Victoria’s shoulder and tightly interlocked the hands on their adjacent arms.

“You don’t have to be that person anymore, ‘Tori. Please? For me?”

This cute little hipster was going to get her killed someday with her niceness.

Oh well. That’s what Victoria signed up for.

She looked back down and opened her eyes again.

“Fine. We’ll do it your way.”

“And stop doing that thing with your face. It’s weird.”

Max gently patted at Victoria’s belly after she finished talking.

“I’ll do whatever I want with my face.”

Victoria’s words weren’t harsh or severe. Pouty, sure.

Max pulled her other hand away to just let it rest by her side. She giggled.

“They’re not that bad, really. Come on. It’d really make me happy if you got along with them.”

Victoria sighed.

But she was smiling softly as she allowed her smaller girlfriend to lead her towards the two of Max’s friends.

Warren looked back up from the floor when they were close.

His eyes looked between them, to their clasped hands, to Max, then back to Victoria.

He tried to put on his best smile.

“Uh. Hi. Victoria. You’re, um. You look nice.”

Victoria grit her teeth.

Max rubbed Victoria’s hand with her thumb.

_You don’t have to be that person anymore._

Victoria’s inner-voice started to sound different to her. It was weird.

It was still mostly the “sadbrains” as Max liked to call it, but she’d occasionally get gentle echoes of her conversations with Max instead.

They were nice.

Victoria wanted to hear that more often. They calmed a lot of her nerves.

“Hi, Warren. Thanks.”

Victoria’s tone wasn’t aggressive or hostile. It didn’t sound quite as friendly as Max would have liked, but Warren rarely sounded quite as friendly as Max would have liked, either.

Warren’s smile seemed more genuine now that he wasn’t immediately being put down by Victoria.

Kate was looking at Max, and between them, at their clasped hands.

Max considered her options.

Then she smiled.

“Warren, what happened to those dolls you had?”

Victoria gave Max a sidelong look.

Warren looked injured. He put his hand over his heart dramatically.

“You wound me, Mad Max! They’re not _dolls._ They’re _figurines._ ”

Max giggled.

“Oh, sorry. I always forget. Do you still have your _Akira_ ones?”

Victoria hitched her breath and closed her eyes.

Warren lowered his hands and nodded. He didn’t notice the change in Victoria.

“Of course! Why, do you want to see them?”

Warren started to grin toothily again.

Max shook her head.

“Just curious.”

“You should totally come check them out in my room, later.”

Victoria opened her eyes to look at him again.

She tried to make her face not do that _thing_.

Realization flashed across Warren’s face.

His mouth was open for a few seconds before he regained his composure.

Victoria raised an eyebrow.

He rubbed the back of his neck and looked away.

“I mean uh if you know ahh … Victoria doesn’t mind or nothin’.”

His voice was quieter and directed at no one in particular – the ground seemingly most of all.

Max had been very careful to let Warren know about personal space and boundaries.

He meant well.

He reminded Max of herself with Victoria, earlier in their relationship. The physical contact just felt so natural to do, and it was easier to do than words, sometimes.

He was usually jittery and full of all kinds of excited energy. The physical contact is what helped him to remain tethered.

But Max didn’t feel that comfortable with Warren, and she knew most people probably wouldn’t immediately, either.

But she understood.

They had conversations about it, particularly after Victoria was officially Max’s girlfriend.

He understood.

He was being more mindful of it, lately.

It made Max smile.

“It’s okay, Warren. I’m not leashed or anything. We can look at them later.”

Kate opened her mouth to say something, but nothing came out and she thought better of it.

Max started to tug Victoria forward again.

“We should get to our next class.”

They all agreed, and walked together.

Kate still wouldn’t meet Victoria’s gaze.

But Warren seemed to be warming up to her.

Whenever he’d ask her a question, Max would make sure to squeeze her hand extra hard, just to make sure she remembered she didn’t have to be that person, anymore.

Warren could get along with anyone if they just let him.

Even Victoria.

* * *

Victoria sat under a tree outside.

She was frowning, slightly. More out of concentration than any sort of intentional effort.

Max had talked to her about bitchy resting face. Victoria ignored her.

She’d been thinking about what Max said, and her interaction with Warren, a lot.

In particular, she kept thinking about the way Max entirely casually slipped in a point of reference for her to relate with Warren.

He collected them too.

He liked her favorite movie.

Well, one of her favorite movies, anyway. Otomo was a genius. So was Miyazaki.

Max knew exactly what she was doing, the little snake.

She was trying to get Victoria to relate to Warren.

She groaned, leaned back against the tree, tilted her head up, crossed her arms, and closed her eyes.

Well. It was working.

It was much easier to be spiteful and angry of people when she kept them one-dimensional.

Nerd boy.

Idiot jock.

Bitchy sycophant.

Judgmental zealot.

Without the specifics, her terrible side was given carte blanche to imagine whatever it wanted of them.

But it couldn’t imagine anything it wanted, anymore.

It had to image Warren, sitting alone, watching her favorite movie.

Then probably being bullied later, for the collection of figurines he had.

Probably by her same social group, too.

She groaned again.

Max was ruining her. This was so painful. It was going to much harder to try be mean to Warren so long as this stupid flash kept playing in her mind.

But Victoria started to love it again. This is exactly the effect she had on her back in high school, back in Seattle, back when things were starting to get hard and she was starting to shut down.

She never told Max that it made her more nervous than anything else about their relationship.

That she could be different, again.

“Heeeey! Victoria!”

Victoria opened her eyes and looked forwards.

Warren was standing right there.

She frowned before she could help it.

His face fell a little bit.

He opened his mouth to continue talking, but thought better of it, and instead, just sat down a few feet shy of her.

He looked down at the grass.

Still couldn’t really meet her eyes.

This was new. There was no way he had the nerve to come up to her after just one strained, but polite, conversation in a hall way.

Victoria saw Taylor, off in the distance, giving her a dorky wave.

Victoria’s brow furrowed.

Of course she would do this.

Taylor would probably just love to rub this in. Post all over her social media about Victoria’s little pow-wow with Warren, and have some leverage later on.

_No, stop that. Taylor is trying to unfuck you, just like Max. They both care about you._

Victoria sighed and shook her head.

She realized she still hadn’t addressed Warren yet, and looked to him.

Her expression was softer, this time.

“Hi, Warren.”

Her tone, lighter.

He looked up.

He smiled.

“I uh. Um. Well. You see. I-I …”

Victoria rolled her eyes.

She’d seen this before.

The stammering.

The inability to keep eye contact.

The tripping over his own words.

She knew what to do about this.

She straightened her back and cracked her neck.

“Warren. Please do me a favor. Before you talk, can you just … spend a few seconds to collect your thoughts? Breathe in deep. Puff out your chest. Try and say what you mean with intent.”

“Oh? Ah. Um. Y-yeah, I can try that. Like this?”

He closed his eyes, breathed in deeply, puffed out his chest, and tried to put on his best voice.

“Max said you watched some _awesome_ movies and Taylor said you’re not doing anything right now. Can we talk?”

Victoria felt herself blushing before she could help it. Max really shouldn’t be so loose with that information.

He kept eye contact this time. He was still jittery and nervous, but Victoria could tell he was trying.

“Yes, just like that. Thank you.”

She then closed her own eyes and leaned back against her tree.

“Max says a lot of things. What’s it to you?”

“Duh! I am like, the _biggest_ movie nerd on campus.”

Victoria raised an eyebrow. Her eyes were still closed, but it was the thought that counted.

“Really.”

“Yeah!”

He sounded so much more happy and confident when he was talking about something he cared about.

_When he’s not being torn apart by you._

_You don’t have to be that person anymore._

“Tell me all of the horror movies that came out in 2009 that are inexorably cheesy.”

“Uh … a-all of them?”

Victoria smiled and opened her eyes to look at him again.

“Yes. I want to improve my collection. They’re Max’s favorites.”

His grin just about consumed his entire face.

It probably wasn’t healthy. He’d hurt his cheeks like that.

Warren had a lot of choice selections for her.

Victoria had date night planned for months in advance, now.

Max’s friends weren’t all that bad.

* * *

“Kate!”

Max tried very hard to keep her voice even and composed.

“Max …”

Kate’s voice sounded drained.

“Please.”

Max was following after Kate. She was walking away briskly, to her room.

“No, Max. You just don’t understand.”

Kate was hugging herself tightly as she walked. Her bag wasn’t going anywhere anytime soon.

“ _Kate._ Help me understand. I want to.”

Max had a lot of tricks to employ to snoop and get people to open up with her, but Kate was stubbornly incessant.

“I know, Max.”

Kate knew Max wanted to know more.

And Max couldn’t.

“Please. Just let this go. For me?”

“Kate ---“

“I don’t want to talk about this, Max.”

Kate made it to her room. She closed the door on Max.

Max sighed severely and planted her forehead on Kate’s door.

They just had an argument. Kate was upset.

She didn’t like that Max had a _girl_ friend and Max couldn’t figure out _why_.

Kate had always been so warm about the subject before. She said even the most judgmental of believers only hated the act, not the person.

But here she was, shutting Max out, literally, over something she thought was a nonissue.

“Max.”

Victoria.

Max’s breath hitched. She numbly made her way to nestle into Victoria again and sniffle.

“I don’t get it.”

“Get what?”

“Kate. She’s … she’s upset that you’re a woman.”

Victoria furrowed her brow.

She moved a hand up to run through Max’s hair. She knew how much this was relaxing to her.

“Why is that a shock, she’s ---“

“ _Victoria_.”

Victoria flinched. Max didn’t use her ‘full’ name very often anymore. Usually only whenever she was frustrated or wanted to get a rise out of her.

Victoria sighed.

Max continued.

“She’s … she wasn’t like this. She got upset at me … like Saturday or something.”

Victoria stilled.

“Like, the Saturday after Friday?”

Max groaned.

“No, the Saturday after Tuesday.”

“ _Max_.”

“’Tori.”

Max was giggling again. It was a bit tired and drained and she sniffled right afterwards, but it was an improvement.

“I _mean_. _Friday_. Our club parties, Max. Kate attended the last one.”

Max was quiet for a while.

“Oh.”

“Yeah.”

Max looked up to Victoria. Her eyes were a little red and irritated but there was a steel in her eyes and a harshness in her voice.

“What did you _do_?”

“ _I_ didn’t do _anything_.”

Victoria’s words were diplomatic and probably _technically correct_ but not helpful and Max knew she was shutting down from the conversation.

Max groaned, rested her head against Victoria’s collarbones, and collected her thoughts.

“Who did?”

* * *

Max and Victoria found a nice spot of grass to sit down on next to Taylor.

“Hi, cuties. What’s up?”

“Taylor.”

Victoria wasn’t used to hearing this harshness in Max’s tone.

It was kinda scary.

Neither was Taylor, from the way she flinched, squirmed, and hesitated.

“Uh, what’d I do now?”

“Kate.”

Victoria rubbed at one of Max’s shoulders and tried not to be too involved in the conversation. She was peripheral, here.

Taylor sighed.

“This is about Friday, isn’t it --- look, I didn’t --- “

“ _Taylor_.”

Taylor raised her hands up and shook her head.

“Alright, alright, jeez. Remind me not to get on your bad side again, Max.”

Taylor tried to find the right words so as to not make Max even more upset.

They probably didn’t exist.

“So alright. Friday, Rachel invites her to one of our parties. We think she’s going to be a total dead-end because _duh_ \--- but she shows up with this real cutie instead.”

Max raised her eyebrows.

So did Victoria.

She probably should have attended this party.

Victoria did the math in her head. That was the Friday that Max fell asleep with her for the first time in however many years watching terrible horror movies.

She probably shouldn’t have attended this party.

“Real cutie?”

Taylor nodded.

“Yeah. One of the other girls who goes to her bible group. Rachel goes to it too, somehow. She wanted them to live a little bit more.”

Max bit her lip.

She had a feeling she knew where this was going and it was putting an awful feeling in her stomach.

Taylor smiled weakly.

“Kate had a drink or two out of being polite. She’s so nice like that. I later found them huddled together, gently holding hands, all snuggled up. It was _sooooooo_ cute.”

Max was familiar with Taylor’s near-squealed pronunciation of “so cute”.

Victoria imitated it nasally every so often.

It’d always make Max giggle.

Max wasn’t giggling.

“So I … look, please believe the shit out of me when I say I didn’t think anything bad would happen, alright? I know she’s your friend and I didn’t want to --- “

Her voice started to get a bit higher and faster-pitched, a little uneven.

“Taylor.”

Taylor looked down at the grass.

“Right, okay, fine, yeah. So.”

She breathed in deep, then looked back to Max.

“I took a few photos of them together, like that. Kate’s so nice, you know? She deserves to live a little bit sometimes. I figured I could convince her to attend more parties if I brought girly-girl along.”

Max kept her expression neutral. Victoria wondered if she’d ever gone this long with this fierce steel in her voice.

Taylor sighed.

“But I fucked up. Her parents, Max. They’re … really super not nice people. The photos got around since – seriously, they’re _adorable_ – and when her parents found out, they basically disowned her.”

Max frowned.

“From just a little snuggling? Even platonic friends can do that sometimes.”

Taylor grit her teeth.

“No uh. Well. Not _just_ snuggling. They maybe … kind of … sort of … definitely kissed in one of the photos.”

Max’s expression broke now. Her mouth went wide.

Victoria tried her hardest to not be amused, since it was improper.

But she had heard all of the judgements Kate had made about her and wasn’t about to have her heart strings strung just because she got mixed up at one of their parties.

“Yeah right! It’s crazy. I had no idea Kate had it in her or swung that way.”

Taylor frowned.

“But maybe she didn’t, really. After the whole incident, Rachel said the girly-girl stopped attending bible study. I don’t think Kate took it well.”

She leaned back, supporting herself by placing her hands far behind her.

“I’m not sure how much you can do about this, Max. She won’t talk to me about it. I think she’s just going to try and ignore it ever happened.”

Max had been biting her bottom lip so hard she started to bleed.

Victoria looked worried. She squeezed Max’s shoulder.

“Are you alright?”

“No.”

* * *

Max didn’t really know what to say to Kate.

But she would be damned if she didn’t try.

Max could still talk breezily with Kate during class, but she slowly noticed her starting to withdraw more from the conversations.

When she started skipping classes, Max became even more worried.

But the more Max pushed the subject when Kate _was_ around, the more awkward everything got. She’d talk to Max less and less.

Max realized, eventually, that she was sabotaging their relationship by constantly pressing the issue. Kate didn’t want to talk about it. This was a problem she couldn’t fix.

She didn’t know what to do anymore.

Victoria found her crying in her room since she was getting better at reading between the lines in Max’s texts.

Victoria hugged Max firmly, and gave her a shoulder to just cry everything out on.

Victoria went through some photos on the digital display of her camera while Max was quietly nestled into her shoulder, just trying to recompose herself.

Eventually,

“I don’t know what to do about Kate. It worries me sick.”

“Really. I couldn’t tell.”

“ _Victoria_.”

Victoria sighed.

“Max. You were talking fine to Kate before what, Thursday? Just do whatever you were doing before then.”

Max frowned.

“Kate’s suffering, though. She needs help, or she ---“

“Max.”

Max gulped. She looked up to Victoria.

Victoria had a softer look on her face, this time.

“I don’t like Kate, alright? You have _no idea_ how much schadenfreude I’m tripping in right now.”

Max’s hackles raised. She opened her mouth to say something.

Victoria shushed her with a finger on her lips.

“But. Let me finish. But.”

Victoria sighed deeply.

“I hate seeing you upset even more than I dislike her. So here’s how you fix this. You don’t fix it.”

Max looked confused.

“What?”

“Don’t fix it.”

Max tried to start a sentence a few times, but it never really worked out. She eventually just shoved her face into Victoria’s shoulder again with a frustrated whine.

“I don’t understand.”

Max’s voice was muffled.

Victoria tried very hard not to notice Max’s breathing going down her neck and shoulders _just right._

She wasn’t going to shiver.

She shivered.

Damn it.

“Max. You’re a huge fucking snoop and I love you to death but it’s super obnoxious sometimes.”

Max flinched, but didn’t protest.

“Sometimes you can’t fix all of the problems in the world, you know? Like when we …”

Victoria went more quiet. She gulped, but eventually soldiered on.

“When we stopped talking. I know how much you meant well, then, but, really, I just did not want to talk to _anyone_ about my parents. I just wanted someone who’d be there for me and listen to whatever other inconsequential shit I had going on.”

Max considered her words.

“So I think … what Kate wants is just a friend from you, right now, who respects her personal space. This happened Friday, right? You didn’t even notice it until next Thursday, after Kate probably casually brought up our relationship and you probably fucking snooped again. She didn’t want that, got defensive, and used whatever came to mind first that’d upset you the least to disengage.”

“I …”

Shit.

Max melted against Victoria with another useless whine of frustration.

“I don’t mean to, I just …”

Victoria rolled her eyes. She put her camera down, and maneuvered Max until she was in their favorite position, with Max’s head in Victoria’s lap, just looking up at her. Victoria’s nails raked through her hair casually.

“I know. Max, you’re so sweet but Jesus Christ _please_ just tone it down, okay? Just tell Kate you’re going to give her the space she deserves for this issue. Tell her you’ll be there if she wants to talk about it, but you just want her to be happy, and if that means you’re just a casual friend, then you’re just a casual friend.”

Max murmured dreamily.

She had a thought.

“When did Victoria Chase get good at dealing with relationships?”

Victoria smiled sweetly.

“I’m a bitch, remember? I didn’t just keep Taylor, Nate, or Courtney around all of this time by being consistently awful to them. … And I might have had some help along the way.”

Max could see the little bit of blush on Victoria’s cheeks. Max giggled.

Kissing was pretty damn awkward in this position but there was no way in hell Max was going to let that moment go.

She settled back down in Victoria’s lap afterwards.

“Alright. You win, ‘tori. I’ll back off and just be there for her if she needs me, but not try and solve it myself.”

Victoria suddenly had a very serious look on her face.

Max’s breath hitched.

“Remember Max, you don’t have to be that person anymore.”

Victoria imitated voices. Her Max was getting pretty good.

It still sounded too high-pitched and feeble but this was becoming a pattern.

She was going to have to ask Chloe if her voice actually sounded like that.

No, wait, that was a terrible idea. She’d ask Rachel.

… No, maybe Kate.

Max broke down into helpless giggles and hit Victoria with one of the throw pillows on the couch.

“Ugh you _nerd_.”

Victoria allowed herself to be assaulted with the pillow and giggled.

“Yes, but, I’m _your_ nerd.”

“Yeah …”

Max murmured dreamily once more.

They kissed again.

* * *

Max used the words Victoria gave her when she met Kate next.

Victoria was right.

Kate needed time to heal with this. There wasn’t any magic bullet that could be used to unfuck the horribly tense relationship she had with her parents. There wasn’t any reversing time to take away the kiss at the party.

And Max was going to be there for her, every time.

Kate started inviting her to tea dates again.

Max didn’t miss a single one.

She didn’t bring Victoria along, but.

Victoria didn’t have to get along _that_ well with all of her friends.

The way Warren gushed about Victoria, “She’s got a way better taste in movies than you, Max! Sorry!” was enough, for now.


End file.
